By Ben Kerrigan-
The British government is resisting pressure to provide any clear time table on when schools in the Uk will re-open.
MPs are mounting pressure on the government to set out a “route map” for reopening amid concerns for children’s education.
Boris Johnson said he understood why people wanted a timetable but he did not want to lift restrictions while the infection rate was “still very high”.
Mr Johnson said: “We’ve now got the R [reproduction rate] down below 1 across the whole of the country, that’s a great achievement, we don’t want to see a huge surge of infection just when we’ve got the vaccination programme going so well and people working so hard.
“I understand why people want to get a timetable from me today, what I can tell you is we’ll tell you, tell parents, tell teachers as much as we can as soon as we can.”
The prime minister expressed a desire to see schools open as soon as possible, but said he could not give a guarantee schools would be back before Easter.
He said the government would be “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” before mid-February, but it is understood no changes would be made before that date.
Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, said he had asked to table an urgent question in on the matter, but the Labour whips’ office tweeted that this had been denied.
Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield joined the call for clarity and told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Children are more withdrawn, they are really suffering in terms of isolation, their confidence levels are falling, and for some there are serious issues.”
The government is said to be concerned about transmission rates in schools, in the event of re-opening schools. The Department of Education had previously been in support of keeping schools open, until Boris Johnson called a third national lockdown at the beginning of Janaury.
The rate for male teachers and educational professionals in England and Wales in 2020 was 18.4 deaths per 100,000, compared with 31.4 for all males aged 20 to 64; while for women it was 9.8 compared with 16.8.
Mark Harper, chairman of the Covid Recovery Group of Conservative MPs, told Today lockdown measures should be eased two or three weeks after the first four priority groups had been vaccinated.
“At that point you need to start bringing the economy back to life, and the first thing that needs to be reopened are our schools so our children can get back,” he said.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said schools will be given two weeks’ notice before reopening – which he would “certainly hope” would happen before Easter.